How to Love Your Weekdays

Why We Don’t Love Our Weekdays as Much As Our Weekends
Everyone loves time off from work; we become have gotten used to looking forward to the weekend from an early age. “TGIF” is cultural influence that creates the mindset from an early age of work work work and then – ahhhh, the weekend.
The truth is, nothing could be further from what is truly beneficial to maintain a healthy mind and body.
Our work week should be a positive activity in terms of anticipating, going through and feeling satisfied by the weeks end.

Although the workweek does not conjure up positive images in many people’s imagination, there are ways to adjust your mindset.

This is especially important if you are a parent, because your “work week” is most often 24/7.
The human brain has a negativity bias, that is, if left alone, the brain will continually look on the dark side. This was evolutionarily built into our brains as a survival mechanism. It is, however, no longer valid in our modern world and people who maintain an negative or angry mindset are actually less healthy and more prone to heart attacks and illness.
So since both our culture and our evolutionary wiring keeps prompting us to view our weekdays through a negative lense, we need to purposefully re-shape our thinking and energy towards thinking positive and creating a positive and enthusiastic mindset that enables us to feel more joy during the week.
Here’s what to do:

2. Self talk : we know from research about positive psychology that what you tell yourself influences how you feel. Practice saying good things: “isn’t is a beautiful morning”. “I’m so happy that I have packed my delicious lunch today”. Look for good moments; they are there. Actions such as putting fresh flowers in your cubicle or kitchen will lift your mood.

3. Smile: the physical act of smiling actually influences your mind as well as those around you. Smile often and you will get a thousand smiles in return. (Ok, maybe in New York you will get 5 smiles in return)

4. R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Respect yourself. Know when you’ve hit ground zero. No one is a work machine. Learn to recognize your body signals that you are depleted. Take an hour off for that walk or massage. Take a mental health day off. It will do wonders to replenish yourself. If your burnout continues, get some therapy to learn more self help techniques.

Dr. Rita Eichenstein, PhD, specializes in pediatric neuropsychology, psychotherapy, and parenting skills. She's learned through more than 20 years of clinical experience how important the parents' emotional health is to an atypical kid's future success.

You can learn more about Dr. Rita on the About page.

Dr. Rita Eichenstein in the News!

11/21/13 New York Metro Parents "What to Do When You Are At the End of Your Rope" http://m.nymetroparents.com/article/how-parents-can-avoid-meltdowns

10/10/13 Forbes.com: Dr. Rita says, “Wealth is not necessarily linked with happiness in Denmark, the world’s happiest place” in a Forbes.com article entitled “What the World’s Happiest Countries Can Teach Us About Money.”

7/22/13 Time.com: For a story about how to stay hip during after retirement Dr. Rita says, "Learning anything new stimulates the brain and does more than keep you relevant—it helps keep you healthy and reduces isolation."